


But a Live Embarrassment

by Rin_the_Shadow



Series: But a Live Embarrassment [2]
Category: Transformers (Unicron Trilogy), Transformers: Cybertron
Genre: Betrayal, Canon Compliant, Character Study, Friendship, Gen, Losing a Teammate, Thundercracker is not Stupid, friends growing apart, may hedge into alternate continuity near the end, mostly - Freeform, seeker bros
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-10-14
Updated: 2018-10-14
Packaged: 2019-08-01 21:27:39
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,497
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16292123
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Rin_the_Shadow/pseuds/Rin_the_Shadow
Summary: At times, he almost seemed to get it.After the events of "Beginnings," Thundercracker looks back on the events of the Planet Key War. He thinks he gets a lot more than the 'bots give him credit for.





	But a Live Embarrassment

Over centuries fighting as a Decepticon, you’d start to gather a certain reputation. In some cases, you could be feared, either for your sheer power, or for a sharp cunning and biting wit. They might see you as useful, an easy bit of dumb bulk or quick calculations, good for your purpose, but not much more.

Thundercracker was none of these. Despite working almost directly under Megatron, serving right alongside Starscream as he rapidly advanced to second-in-command, and being one of only five listed seeker trines, he did not have their reputation. Unlike Skywarp, who was generally ignored in most Decepticon circles (he wasn’t seen as a big threat, but not much of anyone really had a problem with him), he was seen as a joke, a flunky, and at worst an outright hindrance. “Point ‘em in the right direction, and _maybe_ he’ll know where to shoot,” it was said.

What the others didn’t know was that he was _aware_ of it. Sure, he wasn’t the brightest bulb in the pack, but you didn’t get to _stay_ in the same trine as Megatron’s second by being stupid.

And that wasn’t an expression, either. He’d _seen_ trines forced to split apart because Megatron wanted one reassigned, but not the others.

Way back when, he used to spar with his trinemates pretty often. During one of their sessions, he’d voiced his concerns about Ramjet’s reassignment. “Y’don’t think the big dog might split us, too?” With Starscream increasingly off on solo missions or working with Megatron directly, he could see the warning signs. Even he wasn’t fool enough to gamble on that.

Skywarp had tried to assuage his fear, but Starscream had been quiet. No doubt he was considering it, or Megatron had said something. He’d continued, even as he swung his weapon against the target. “I mean, I know I don’t got y’all’s firepower and I can’t get rid of my Delta Quadrant drawl and ev’rbody thinks I’m gonna slag myself—”

“So use it.” He’d stopped midswing as Starscream finally spoke. “They think you’re stupid enough to get slagged? So let ‘em. It’s their funeral.”

There was a dark note in those words, Thundercracker thought, and he almost wanted to ask what he meant. But then, he figured there was a reason he’d climbed as fast as he had. Better not to know too much.

It wasn’t like his reputation was that much better among the Autobots. Oh, he was a threat, all right. But only because they could never tell what would happen. Not in a sense of deliberate unpredictability either. “Guy’s such a loose cannon you can’t predict where he’s gonna hit!” he’d heard over a hacked comm. one mission. More of an erratic fool who just happened to hit—not _the_ target, but _a_ target, most of the time. Except, y’know, that was exactly how he _meant_ it to look. But hey, at least they were afraid of him. Sort of.

He sent plenty of ‘bots crawling for the medbay, to his delight and Starscream’s…well, the closest thing he ever felt to delight, anyway. Skywarp worried about his overdoing it, what with all the suicide missions it got him placed on. But it wasn’t like any of them could argue with results. Especially under Megatron.

But one way or another, the expectations and the results never managed to match up. “How many times do you have to scrap that same slagging grounder before they get the point?” Starscream had growled with an almost indecipherable tone—half-amused, half-annoyed, and a few percentages of something else. He’d eventually gotten fed up and fired off several rounds with his null cannons, grumbling afterwards about “senseless waste” and “stupid, arrogant Autobot fools.” Thundercracker and Skywarp had gotten a _very_ interesting vocabulary lesson that day.

It wasn’t like that changed anything, except when he brought his trine with him.

Still, there was one Autobot who seemed to notice. A gruff fighter jet who’d picked up a bit of a Nebulon accent somewhere along the way. Now _there_ was a real fight! Jetfire intercepted laser blasts—sometimes with his own frame—shot to jam cannons, improvised weapons—sometimes with parts of himself—and even threw his own force against the seeker to knock off his flight pattern. 

Jetfire fought like a _real_ opponent, even as he grew to adapt to Thundercracker’s erratic attack patterns. Never dismissed him as a lucky crackshot, never waited for Starscream to arrive before he’d fight like a real Cybertronian. And Thundercracker was more than happy to keep him busy.

Normally, the trine lived for a challenge, but after one mission, Skywarp had expressed concern that he fought him alone too often. While he didn't doubt his ability, he didn't want to arrive and find that his trinemate had finally found a fight he couldn't come back from.

Thundercracker had brushed it off. “Not like I haven’t faced worse.” _Y’know, the dozens of suicide missions?_

But Starscream had been more reflective. “He’s figured you out, Thundercracker,” he’d said.

“Well, then.” He felt a grin cracking into his faceplating. “I’ll just have to think of somethin’ he can’t.”

And he had. He’d adapt, Jetfire would adapt. Even until the end, in that creaky hallway miles below the surface of Gigantion, he continued to adapt. They continued to fight. They continued to fight _for real_. Yeah, he could respect a _real_ opponent.          

* * *

 He’d noticed other things, too. He’d seen the change in his surviving trinemate long before he could figure out what it was, as call after call decimated the Decepticon troops in the war against Unicron, as Megatron _continued_ to make these calls, or refused to make them.

If someone had asked him, (not that they _would_ ) he would have said it started when they’d returned from a battle against a Unicron offshoot and realized Skywarp was no longer with them. They had felt it long before they landed, but neither had believed it could be true. Neither had _wanted_ it to be true. In hindsight, maybe if they’d admitted it, they could’ve got him back.

A grim look had passed between them before Starscream had snapped around, jamming a digit into his comm. switch hard enough to bend plating, and demanded he be allowed to retrieve the body. Megatron’s response had been clear. “I have no intention of losing _mildly_ competent soldiers on the shell of a weakling.”

Thundercracker couldn’t remember the exact words of the shouting match that followed. But when the link had terminated, the Decepticon second was eerily quiet, so much that Thundercracker thought he had induced stasis.

Then there was a violent snap, a _crunch_ of something smashing into something else, followed by a horrible, ripping, keening screech that had shaken him to his very spark. He had never expected such a sound could come from his trinemate, and he, of all ‘bots, prayed he would never hear it again.

He found out later that he’d ignored orders and searched for the body, but he’d never found anything.

* * *

 Yeah, if he’d had to guess, that would’ve been when it started. He’d never been the most expressive of ‘bots to begin with, but what little was there slowly started to lock itself away, only ever showing itself in a split-second gesture or comment, and only when he thought he was alone. Well, that wasn’t entirely true. It also showed itself in the heat of battle, when his temper flared or a wild, barely restrained bloodlust crept in.

He remembered his shock and dismay when that temper increasingly started to turn against _him_.  Sure, he’d never threatened termination as _some_ leaders had, but he’d snapped at him more than a few times when they were losing, or gone silent the entire flight back.

But the one that had cut the most was definitely when he’d tried a trick to lure out the Autobots, creating a fake Seal of Atlantis and firing on the Autobots when they arrived. Starscream had been pissed to find out, not that _that_ was anything new. He’d figured that’d be the case. It was his comment that had stung the most, “From now on, _I’ll_ do the thinking.” _So, now you think I’m just a lucky crackshot, too, huh?_ Had he forgotten the early days, what he’d said then?

He kinda wished he’d said something, looking back. Though he was pretty sure he didn’t mean it, Starscream had never apologized for that remark. He’d’ve liked to at least have let him know he most definitely did _not_ appreciate it.

* * *

In hindsight, he should definitely have seen it coming. No, that wasn’t entirely true either. He’d suspected something was up. When Megatron had ordered him to go to the Speed Planet to aid Ransack and Crumplezone (not like any amount of helping could’ve made _them_ a threat) he’d refused outright. Even though he’d followed it up by saying he wouldn’t be any use there, not having a ground mode, it wasn’t like he rejected orders before. Oh, sure, he complained _very loudly_ to Thundercracker about the ones he found nonsensical, but it wasn’t like he’d ever let the Big Dog know that.

Thundercracker had been worried about his refusal. Even _he_ had more self-preservation than that. But maybe he was getting frustrated, not thinking straight due to everything going wrong with their mission on Earth. He checked him, “You sure you wanna talk to the boss like that? He looked like he was gonna serve you up and eat you for breakfast.”

“So let him fume! Maybe it’s time the servant became the master!” Starscream snapped back almost immediately.

Now _that_ wasn’t something he’d ever heard before. “Now _this_ is about to get interestin’,” he said.

Starscream gave a knowing smirk. “ _Very_ interesting…”

Thundercracker had understood that day that he’d been let in on something his trinemate didn’t want getting out, and so he’d never mentioned it. Looking back, he probably still wouldn’t have mentioned it. After all, who wanted to be the snitch responsible for getting his partner slagged by the boss?

But he guessed maybe he expected to hear a little follow-up. Sure, Starscream had recruited a guy not too long after. He’d taken his own approach to doing missions and even swapped mission partners a few times, but he’d never brought up his comments again. Few weeks down the line, and he was back to working with Thundercracker as if nothing had ever happened. At the time, he’d thought this meant that whatever Starscream’s issue had been, he’d gotten over it or pushed it down like he’d done before. Though Thundercracker _almost_ felt sorry for whatever poor slagger he’d scrapped to get back down from that.

* * *

Then Starscream had approached him and the others with a new assignment: prevent the duel between Optimus Prime and Scourge. He’d kept things quiet, but they’d all assumed it was because Megatron wouldn’t want Scourge to know. It wasn’t like there was anything fishy about it. After all, why would he bring lackeys he openly disliked on a mission he himself had created? It would’ve been just him and Thundercracker if he’d had a choice. Everyone knew that.

Scrap, when he bungled up the mission, Starscream didn’t even have a comment on it. He’d even openly showed concern for Thundercracker’s safety, which he’d taken to mean maybe he’d finally healed from losing Skywarp.

After the mission, they’d slipped away from Megatron’s fury, hiding out by the volcano and chatting about old times. Not quite like before, but close enough. With how reclusive he’d been lately, Thundercracker could have cried with relief, if he’d been the type.

And yet, it was Sideways who’d gone with him when he split from Megatron’s faction. To be honest, Thundercracker wasn’t even sure he’d _meant_ to take Sideways, or if that had just happened because he couldn't get rid of him.

* * *

 They met several times on the battlefield after that point. They’d never exchanged words, much as Thundercracker would’ve liked to give him what for. He didn’t think he really wanted to hear the answers.

* * *

Somewhere in there, he’d gotten to the point of fighting fragging _Primus_ of all ‘bots. If he’d wondered if any of his old trinemate was still there, he’d stopped questioning it then. When he’d fallen through the dimensional rift in that final duel with Galvatron, Thundercracker couldn’t even bring himself to mourn. The Starscream he’d known had been dead long before that point. He guessed he’d done his mourning somewhere along the way, because really, it wasn’t like it shocked him anymore. Just the fact that somehow, he’d missed it.

Thundercracker himself defected from Megatron—pardon, _Galvatron_ , not too long after that. Big Dog wanted to frag up the universe and put it back together all wonky, whether or not anyone survived? No thanks, he’d rather not go that way.

He knew he didn’t have the firepower or leadership skill to form his own faction, and besides that, he’d gotten fed up with always being the bad guy. So he figured, why not become an Autobot?

Originally, it was just a passing thought, an _aw, scrap, let’s try it_. But in the rebuilding efforts, in collaborating with the Autobots and finding even his former opponents could respect him, he decided maybe it wasn’t so bad. Sure, he could get used to it. Winning was a nice little bonus, if he did say so himself.

And who gave a scrap if some would always remember him as a guy who’d sided with Megatron? Wasn’t like he didn’t have millennia to prove himself. And he’d learned well in his time as a Decepticon. He could manage it. (And maybe give his trinemates a proper memorial while he was at it. Just because things had gone to slag between them didn’t mean he couldn’t respect his traditions.)

* * *

But of course, fate wouldn’t let him have that. At this point, he had to wonder if he'd pissed off Primus during his sparking or something. During the rebuilding efforts, he’d noticed some of the other ‘Cons acting funny, and he’d gone to check it out. And of course, deep down, he’d _known_ they wouldn’t stick with the Autobots the way he wanted to, wouldn’t listen when he said he didn’t want to split. It was almost comical in hindsight. He should’ve been able to get away easily, but he’d panicked and fritzed his processor like a half-formed sparkling. So robo-napping it was.

The ship crashed, and though the rest of its crew was beside themselves, spouting blame here, there, and everywhere, Thundercracker (once he’d gotten his head out of the ground) could only chuckle to himself. This was the way they wanted things to be? Fine. No one expected anything from a live embarrassment they’d just dragged along. The rest of them could do whatever the slag they wanted. But Thundercracker? He’d figure a way out. He had plenty of time. Adapting always _was_ what he did best.

**Author's Note:**

> So who'da thunk my first Cybertron series fic would be about Thundercracker? Though I had others centering mostly on Hot Shot or Override from, like, grade school, they've pretty much all been lost at this point. But I'd kind of wanted to give the resident chew toy some attention, as he tends to get a bit sidelined in the fanbase, so it would seem.
> 
> This is also my first experience making up backstories and whatnot out of whole cloth. Though I'd made some inferences in my Armada series, To Turn Spark, I'd never speculated on something I didn't believe I could pull from the text. For the purposes of this story, I also treated Armada/Energon and Cybertron as separate continuities. My personal canon is a bit flexible in that regard, and for this, I opted to separate them.
> 
> But in any event, I hope you have enjoyed it!  
> ~Rin


End file.
